Preface

This document is your primary source of introductory, installation, post-installation configuration, and usage information for Oracle COM Automation Feature.

This document describes the features of Oracle Database for Windows that apply to the Windows NT Server, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 operating systems.

This preface contains these topics:

• Audience

• Organization

• Related Documentation

• Conventions

• Documentation Accessibility

Audience

Oracle COM Automation Feature Developer's Guide is intended for developers who develop solutions that use COM.

To use this document, you need familiarity with:

• Component Object Model (COM)

• Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) Automation

• Structured Query Language (SQL)

• Data Definition Language (DDL)

• Data Manipulation Language (DML)

• PL/SQL or Java

• Oracle object-relational database management (ORDBMS) concepts

• Windows Server Operating Systems

Organization

Provides an overview of Oracle COM Automation Feature and Oracle Database architecture. Read this chapter before installing or using Oracle COM Automation Feature.

Describes how to install Oracle COM Automation Feature and the configuration tasks you must perform before using it. This chapter also lists the contents of the Oracle COM Automation Feature SDK and describes the system requirements.

Describes the core functionality of Oracle COM Automation Feature, including PL/SQL and Java APIs for manipulating COM objects.

Describes how to use the PL/SQL demos for Oracle COM Automation Feature.

Describes how to use the Java demos for Oracle COM Automation Feature.

Describes the Oracle PL/SQL COM Automation Feature error codes and the Microsoft COM Automation error codes.

Defines terms used in this document.

Related Documentation

For more information, see these Oracle resources:

• Oracle Database Installation Guide for Windows

• Oracle Database Release Notes for Windows

• Oracle Database Platform Guide for Windows

• Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server Developer's Guide

• Oracle Net Services Administrator's Guide

• Real Application Clusters Quick Start

• Oracle Database New Features

• Oracle Database Concepts

• Oracle Database Reference

• Oracle Database Java Developer's Guide

For information about Oracle error messages, see Oracle Database Error Messages. Oracle error message documentation is available only in HTML. If you only have access to the Oracle Documentation CD, you can browse the error messages by range. Once you find the specific range, use your browser's "find in page" feature to locate the specific message. When connected to the Internet, you can search for a specific error message using the error message search feature of the Oracle online documentation.

Many of the examples in this book use the sample schemas of the seed database, which is installed by default when you install Oracle. Refer to Oracle Database Sample Schemas for information on how these schemas were created and how you can use them yourself.

Printed documentation is available for sale in the Oracle Store at

http://oraclestore.oracle.com/

To download free release notes, installation documentation, white papers, or other collateral, please visit the Oracle Technology Network (OTN). You must register online before using OTN; registration is free and can be done at

http://otn.oracle.com/membership/

If you already have a username and password for OTN, then you can go directly to the documentation section of the OTN Web site at

http://otn.oracle.com/documentation/

Conventions

This section describes the conventions used in the text and code examples of this documentation set. It describes:

• Conventions in Text

• Conventions in Code Examples

• Conventions for Windows Operating Systems

We use various conventions in text to help you more quickly identify special terms. The following table describes those conventions and provides examples of their use.

Code examples illustrate SQL, PL/SQL, SQL*Plus, or other command-line statements. They are displayed in a monospace (fixed-width) font and separated from normal text as shown in this example:

SELECT username FROM dba_users WHERE username = 'MIGRATE';

The following table describes typographic conventions used in code examples and provides examples of their use.

[ ]

DECIMAL (digits [ , precision ])

{ }

{ENABLE | DISABLE}

|

{ENABLE | DISABLE}
[COMPRESS | NOCOMPRESS]

...

CREATE TABLE ... AS subquery;

SELECT col1, col2, ... , coln FROM employees;

.
 .
 .

SQL> SELECT NAME FROM V$DATAFILE;
NAME
------------------------------------
/fsl/dbs/tbs_01.dbf
/fs1/dbs/tbs_02.dbf
.
.
.
/fsl/dbs/tbs_09.dbf
9 rows selected.

acctbal NUMBER(11,2);
acct    CONSTANT NUMBER(4) := 3;

Italics

CONNECT SYSTEM/system_password
DB_NAME = database_name

UPPERCASE

SELECT last_name, employee_id FROM employees;
SELECT * FROM USER_TABLES;
DROP TABLE hr.employees;

lowercase

SELECT last_name, employee_id FROM employees;
sqlplus hr/hr
CREATE USER mjones IDENTIFIED BY ty3MU9;

The following table describes conventions for Windows operating systems and provides examples of their use.

c:\winnt"\"system32 is the same as C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32

C:\oracle\oradata>

C:\>exp scott/tiger TABLES=emp QUERY=\"WHERE job='SALESMAN' and sal<1600\"
C:\>imp SYSTEM/password FROMUSER=scott TABLES=(emp, dept)

HOME_NAME

C:\> net start OracleHOME_NAMETNSListener

Documentation Accessibility

Our goal is to make Oracle products, services, and supporting documentation accessible, with good usability, to the disabled community. To that end, our documentation includes features that make information available to users of assistive technology. This documentation is available in HTML format, and contains markup to facilitate access by the disabled community. Standards will continue to evolve over time, and Oracle is actively engaged with other market-leading technology vendors to address technical obstacles so that our documentation can be accessible to all of our customers. For additional information, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program Web site at

http://www.oracle.com/accessibility/

JAWS, a Windows screen reader, may not always correctly read the code examples in this document. The conventions for writing code require that closing braces should appear on an otherwise empty line; however, JAWS may not always read a line of text that consists solely of a bracket or brace.

This documentation may contain links to Web sites of other companies or organizations that Oracle does not own or control. Oracle neither evaluates nor makes any representations regarding the accessibility of these Web sites.